robert haskinshttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/2408/all
enAssault history: Haskins gets 25 years for child sodomyhttp://www.readthehook.com/98531/history-sexual-assault-haskins-gets-25-years-child-sodomy
<p>For a 27-year-old, Robert Terrell Haskins has racked up a pretty lengthy rap sheet consisting largely of sexual assaults. His latest day in court June 28 resulted in his lengthiest sentence: 25 years on two counts of <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/67128/greenleaf-attacker-judge-freed-haskins-now-charged-child-rape">forcible sodomy of a minor</a>. Yet some are wondering if that's enough.</p>
<p>Haskins began his notorious career on December 30, 2002, as the <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/files/old/stories/2003/10/23/newsFreedByJudgeGreenleafP.html">Greenleaf Attacker</a>. He knocked down a 34-year-old mother who was in the park with her toddler, and told police he intended to have sexual relations with her; but when she fought him off and screamed, he fled.</p>
<p>In court a year later, police were outraged that instead of a felony attempted rape conviction, an out-of-town judge convicted him of misdemeanor sexual battery and sentenced Haskins to six months time served.</p>
<p>He picked up another misdemeanor sexual battery conviction for grabbing the buttocks of a female jogger in February 2003 on Locust Avenue, and almost immediately after his release from jail in October 2003, he allegedly chased another woman down that same street.</p>
<p>In 2005, he followed a woman who lived on Little High Street several times, asked to use her bathroom, kissed her, then attempted to break into her house, and stole her purse and a laptop, for which he was <a href="stories/2005/12/08/newsHesBackGreenleafAttack.html">sentenced</a> to four-and-a-half years in prison.</p>
<p>Also in 2003, he began his two-year molestation of an eight-year-old boy, who was a neighbor. The victim, now 17, contacted police in 2010, and Haskins was charged with five counts of forcible sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual battery.</p>
<p>Haskins' attorney, David Eustis, told the judge his client has developmental delays and an IQ of 55, Tasha Kates reports in the <a href="http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/jun/28/man-serve-25-years-molesting-city-child-ar-1139505/"><em>Daily Progress</em></a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding, who was a Charlottesville police officer when Haskins began his escalating attacks, calls him a "serial sexual predator" who has impulses he can't control. And without treatment, Harding says in his 38 years in the justice system, "I've not heard of a lot of success."</p>
<p>If Haskins serves 85 percent of his sentence, he'll be released when he's 48, according to Harding's calculations. "I would worry less if he was 70 when he comes out," says Harding. "I'm not comfortable with a 50-year-old serial sexual predator."</p>
<p>However, according to a source familiar with the case, once he serves his sentence, Haskins could face the possibility of civil commitment under Virginia's <a href="http://www.govppa.org/newsletter/07_march/index_files/Page538.htm">Sexually Violent Predator Act</a>.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/98531/history-sexual-assault-haskins-gets-25-years-child-sodomy#comments_BreakingNewsFeaturedCrime/Justicerobert haskinsNewsWed, 29 Jun 2011 21:01:01 +0000lisa98531 at http://www.readthehook.comRepeat sexual attacker Haskins pleads guiltyhttp://www.readthehook.com/89070/repeat-sexual-attacker-haskins-pleads-guilty
<p>Robert Terrell Haskins, who made sexual attacks against women before moving on to child rape, pleaded guilty to the latter charge yesterday, more than a decade after he was first callled a "threat to the community." Police felt so sure that Haskins was unable to control himself that they expressed outrage in 2003 when a little-known judge reduced an attempted rape charge for an attack on a woman in Greenleaf Park to a misdemeanor sexual battery conviction. The move <a href="stories/2003/10/23/newsFreedByJudgeGreenleafP.html">freed Haskins</a>, and authorities predicted that Haskins would attack again. Sadly, that prediction proved accurate. Lisa Provence wrote about the <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/67128/greenleaf-attacker-judge-freed-haskins-now-charged-child-rape">new charges</a> against Haskins for attacking a then-eight-year-old boy, and the <a href="http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/feb/25/man-guilty-sexually-abusing-boy-ar-868870/">Daily Progress</a> was in court for Friday's hearing on Haskins's guilty plea to two counts of forcible sodomy.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/89070/repeat-sexual-attacker-haskins-pleads-guilty#comments_BreakingNewsCrime/Justicerobert haskinsSat, 26 Feb 2011 12:26:31 +0000hawes89070 at http://www.readthehook.comGreenleaf attacker: Judge-freed Haskins now charged in child rapehttp://www.readthehook.com/67128/greenleaf-attacker-judge-freed-haskins-now-charged-child-rape
<!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><div class="captionLeftLandscape"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/news-haskins-mugshots.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-35505" title="news-haskins-mugshots" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/news-haskins-mugshots-325x195.jpg" alt="news-haskins-mugshots" width="325" height="195" /></a><strong>Haskins in his latest mugshot at left and in 2003.</strong><br />
<small>MUGSHOTS FROM CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE<br />
</small></div>
<p>Seven years ago, after Robert Terrell Haskins was charged with his <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2003/10/23/newsFreedByJudgeGreenleafP.html">first sexual assault</a>, police felt so sure that he was a man unable to control himself that they expressed outrage when a little-known judge reduced an attempted rape charge to a misdemeanor sexual battery conviction, and they predicted that Haskins would molest again. Sadly, that prediction proved accurate for the then-eight-year-old child Haskins allegedly assaulted between 2003 and 2005.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">The alleged victim, now 16, contacted police this spring, and Haskins, now 26, stands charged with five counts of forcible sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual assault.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"My reaction?" responds Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding, who was a Charlottesville police captain when Haskins was first charged. "I'm really not surprised. Those of us around back then felt like he had a compulsive nature that made him a sexual predator. I'm still perplexed the judge made the decision he did."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Haskins' infamy began with an attack in Greenleaf Park on December 30, 2002. The brazen daylight attack on a mother in the presence of her toddler came at a time when Charlottesville women were already on edge with a <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/Stories/2003/01/16/coverstoryOnGuardWomenBrac.html">serial rapist</a> on the <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2007/08/16/COVER-serialrapist-E.rtf.aspx">loose</a>. <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2003/03/20/newsGreenleafNabSuspectPro.html">Arrested</a> the following March, Haskins admitted on videotape that he'd knocked the 34-year-old woman to the ground to have sexual relations with her and fled when she screamed and fought him off.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Nonetheless, when tried in September 2003, Haskins was found guilty of misdemeanor sexual battery and given just a six-month sentence. With credit for time served, he was released that same month.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"Those in court were flabbergasted with the judge's decision," says Harding.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">As for the judge, Joseph Spinella, he's now 85 and retired in Richmond. Although he says he doesn't remember the case ("It doesn't ring a bell," he says), he cites pre-sentencing reports that give the defendant's background and sentencing guidelines that would have played into his decision.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"You get a pretty good picture of what he's like, but you can't predict if he's going to do well," says Spinella. "We truly dislike hearing someone has not followed the rules and stayed out of trouble."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Despite the subsequent alleged assaults on a child, says Spinella, "I don't think I would have done anything differently."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"For that judge not to remember, we have some cracks in our legal system," says Sheriff Harding. "He wasn't part of our community and doesn't have to answer for his decision."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Between 2003-2005, when the latest victim was between 8 and 10 years old, Haskins would rack up increasingly more serious sexual assault charges. In February 2003, prior to his conviction, Haskins grabbed the buttocks of a a juvenile female jogger on Locust Avenue and received a misdemeanor sexual battery conviction. Later that year, he allegedly chased another jogger on Locust Avenue.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Two years later, he broke into a woman's house on Little High Street, a crime for which he was <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2005/12/08/newsHesBackGreenleafAttack.html">sentenced</a> to four-and-a-half years in prison. And at the time of the most recent charges, Haskins was already in jail for probation violation and for providing false information to the state's sexual offender registry, says a Charlottesville Police lieutenant.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"We warned there was a high likelihood of him re-offending," says Sheriff Harding, who wonders how&#8211;- or even whether&#8211;- judges are monitored and assessed.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"I can't say this guy is incompetent," says Harding, speaking of the judge, "but his ruling seemed to be incompetent. I'm glad to hear he's retired."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Harding says that efforts to rehabilitate people with certain types of sexual deviancy often fail. "If he's found guilty," says Harding, of the latest charges, "I hope the judge will incapacitate him."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Haskins attended a school for learning and emotional disabilities and once told police that if he doesn't take his medication, "I do wild stuff."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"If he has a mental illness, I'd like to see him treated," says Harding, "but he's a danger to the community."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><em>Updated 7:10pm with Judge Joseph Spinella's full name.</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/67128/greenleaf-attacker-judge-freed-haskins-now-charged-child-rape#comments_BreakingNewsFeaturedCommunityCrime/Justicerobert haskinssexual offenderThu, 08 Jul 2010 19:59:55 +0000lisa67128 at http://www.readthehook.com